MHA6100 WEEK 1 DISCUSSION AND PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

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MHA6100-ExecutiveLeadershipinHealthcareOrganizationsWeek1Lecture.docx

MHA6100-Executive Leadership in Healthcare Organizations Week 1 Lecture

1

Leading with Conviction and Using Emotional Intelligence in Healthcare Settings

Self-awareness is a vital part of everyone’s makeup. This holds true for leaders also. Understanding what you have and what you do not have is the basis of self-awareness. Looking at your own strengths and weaknesses and allowing those in your charge to provide feedback go a long way in your development.

A leader who is honestly passionate about his or her people is the leader whom everyone wants to follow. To a great extent, this is leading with conviction. The competency of leading with conviction is closest to the core of leadership. To be driven by personal conviction means to be driven by how you feel things should be. Many a times, conviction comes through the experiences that a leader undergoes during his or her lifetime. Conviction is really the foundation of why we do what we do. To make this visible to those who you are leading, you must know your values and beliefs.

Highly effective leaders are able to demonstrate their personal convictions. When direct reports are asked from peers, the responses would include phrases like “highly principled” or “stands for what they believe in.” Simply having strong conviction is not the end of the line. Effective leaders must also be able to keep them under control. Additionally, they must recognize that while their convictions drive them, they are not universally accepted. Others may and will have other convictions. An effective leader learns how to encourage those who have differing convictions.

Emotional intelligence assists the leader in building and nurturing relationships. Leadership is about people. Learning how to understand and work effectively with emotions is a large success factor. Effective leaders recognize personal strengths and weaknesses, see the links between feelings and behaviors, are aware of emotional cues, challenge bias and intolerance, and are able to handle a multitude of tense situations effectively. They learn how to manage these emotions within themselves and others. This, in turn, allows energy to be channeled into productivity.

Always remember, there is a balance that needs to be struck with these competencies. Too much could yield unwanted results just as too little.

Balanced Leadership

Review each difference to learn more.

Too Much State

Balanced Competencies

Too Little State

Overuse can lead to viewing own beliefs as the only correct ones or not considering other’s perspectives. Additionally, leaders could see themselves to be right based on the title. On a moral level, overuse of conviction could come across as a sermon as opposed to a point of view.

Presents the differences between too much or too little competencies versus the balanced state of leadership competencies.

Leading with Conviction

Uncertainty about one’s own beliefs leads to the organization frequently switching directions and convictions being sacrificed. Ignoring or not cultivating convictions leads to transactional relationships with staff and disconnect between conviction and work.

Social networks keep the leader from addressing performance problems, leading to overlooking poor performance. They tend to get overextended as an interpersonal problem solver. It places too much emphasis on the personal aspects of the role while avoiding the noninterpersonal aspects.

Presents the differences between too much or too little competencies versus the balanced state of leadership competencies.

Using Emotional Intelligence

It leads to a lack of concern for others and to not recognizing the individual needs of others; self-absorption does not allow for the leader to recognize and respect other’s views. Actions are driven by approval-seeking rather than conviction. Emotions control the leader rather than the leader controlling emotions, and there is a sense of mistrust.

It leads to a poor balance between planning and operations. Day-to-day operations get less attention than needed. Too much focus is placed on the planning process, and technique is valued over substance. Implementation gets underemphasized. Colleagues develop the “waiting-it-out” attitude.

Presents the differences between too much or too little competencies versus the balanced state of leadership competencies.

Developing a Vision

Too much focus is placed on tactical operations as opposed to long-range planning. There is a lack of long-term perspectives intertwined with regular operations. The focus is restricted to healthcare. It leads to relying on external counsel and undervaluing divergent perspectives.

It leads to communicating the vision as an end rather than a means, emphasizing communication at the expense of implementation, and viewing the vision as the program of the day. Communicating too specifically leads to a vision that can be proved or disproved.

Presents the differences between too much or too little competencies versus the balanced state of leadership competencies.

Communicating Vision

It leads to lack of clarity, focus, or information and not creating a visual picture because it is unclear or has too many elements. The audience does not find meaning, and there is an infrequent communication of the vision.

It leads to communicating too directly and being frank rather than being tactful and diplomatic. It does not temper feedback and discourages dissenting opinions. It also leads to overemphasizing loyalty and overvaluing loyalty compared to the other elements of performance. There is distrust among people outside of the inner circle.

Presents the differences between too much or too little competencies versus the balanced state of leadership competencies.

Earning Trust and Loyalty

Unavailability to staff makes the appearance of not being concerned with staff challenges. The leader is unwilling to go to bat for the staff, not delivering on promises and lacking follow-through, assigning credit or blame to the wrong individuals, and unwilling to chip in when help is needed.

Additional Materials

From your course textbook, Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, read the following chapters:

· Competency 1: Leading With Conviction

· Competency 2: Using Emotional Intelligence

· Competency 3: Developing Vision

From the South University Online Library, read the following article:

· Increasing Emotional Intelligence to Decrease Healthcare Expenditures: How Profitable Would It Be? 

Developing and Communicating a Compelling Vision

Compelling vision includes the competencies that convince others to follow a particular leader. In other words, getting those you are leading to believe in what you visualize without them being able to see it. Developing vision, communicating that vision, and earning trust and loyalty are used to create a picture of the future that captivates others to the point where they support the leader with their own efforts.

Vision is a very important competency and is one of the most sought-after competencies in top levels of leadership. The capacity to create effective plans for your organization’s future on the basis of a clear understanding of trends, uncertainties, risks, and rewards is the one that sets highly effective leaders apart from the rest. When effective leaders are visionaries, they follow a sequence. This sequence involves having a solid understanding and awareness of broad trends and their implications that the leader has to anticipate. This requires staying abreast of trends. In an effective leader’s office, you may see titles such as Modern Healthcare or the Healthcare Executive. From having a solid understanding and awareness of trends and their implications, the vision begins to take shape.

Understanding risks, rewards, and uncertainties helps support strategic decision making. It requires a mix of fact-based analytics and sound judgment and also developing an understanding of what the future holds. The most important part of vision is the ability to communicate it to those you want to influence. Working through the development process effectively should lead to a logical end.

There are more leaders with great trust building and communication than strategic visionaries.

Be aware of focusing too much on the tactical aspects. This is a sign that vision is lacking. The best leaders are those who can handle the day-to-day affairs and see the future. This requires a shift in thinking from a narrow focus to the bigger picture. This involves more than just assuring that your department is successful but also working on how your department and other departments fit into the future of the organization in relation to healthcare and other industries.

Additional Materials

From your course textbook, Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, read the following chapters:

· Competency 4: Communicating Vision

· Competency 5: Earning Trust and Loyalty

From the South University Online Library, read the following articles:

· Developing a Shared Leadership Vision in a College Setting 

· Is the World a Better Place because of Your Practice? Visionary Leaders Have Ability to Communicate Values, Ideas in Way That Connects 

· Earning Trust

· People follow those who they can trust. Knowing you can trust your leader means you strongly believe he or she is thinking and acting for you and your coworkers and for the organization’s best interest. Many believe that trust is the foundation of good leadership. Trust and loyalty are important for a few reasons. People are often suspicious of those in leadership roles. A rule of thumb is that the more distance there is between you and your leader, the more is the room for speculation and interpretation of the leader’s motives. Therefore, more room for mistrust. Earning trust and loyalty means you are truthful and direct and willing to admit mistakes and that you are honestly concerned about the dreams and goals of others. Leadership is more than a position. It is the combination of credible and consistent actions. The key being those credible and consistent actions that build trust.

· The process of building trust requires the leader to be accessible. The leader should be open and frank and should share information freely. He or she should foster openness as trust takes time to develop. This involves risk on both sides. Exceptional leaders care about their staff and also try to reduce the risk for their followers. They demonstrate this by being open to feedback and thanking their staff and by being authentic. Some have said, “Practice what you preach.” However, the more accurate saying would be, “Preach what you practice.” Trust turns into loyalty when followers see the leader supporting their own interests over a period of time.

· Qualities of an Effective Leader

Being Accessible

Leaders are often seen as being untouchable. A leader can earn the trust of his or her staff by being accessible. Once the staff knows that the leader is willing to leave the executive office, the staff is more likely to trust that leader. One way to show your accessibility is to actually leave the executive office and walk the facility and interact with the staff. Find out what makes them tick and how they perform their daily tasks. Show genuine interest.

Fostering Openness

There are no quick fixes to developing trust. This only occurs once the leaders and staff gain a sense of each other’s actions and deem those actions as credible. Exceptional leaders care about the staff and try to minimize the risk for their followers. An example of this is when the leader allows the staff to speak openly and honestly without fear of their comments coming back to haunt them.

Being Authentic

A critical component of trust is authenticity. This allows the leader to connect with the hearts and minds of the employees. This is the ultimate walking the talk. Fulfilling promises and doing what you say go a long way to your authenticity. If they cannot keep a promise, they address it immediately.

Modeling Behavior

Exceptional leaders model behavior in all aspects of their workplace interactions. If there is a sacrifice to be made, the exceptional leader will step in. This willingness to chip in sends a strong message regarding the leader’s character. An example is a leader sending the message, “I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do myself.”

Turning Trust into Loyalty

Trust is the basis but not the end of loyalty. Trust becomes loyalty when the followers experience the leader supporting their own interests over a period of time. The leader aligns these personal interests with the organization’s goals.

Remember, just as with all competencies, trust and loyalty can work against you. Be careful you do not fail to follow through, assign credit or blame to the wrong individual, fail to lead by example, communicate too directly, or discourage dissenting opinions.

Additional Materials

From your course textbook, Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Executives, read the following chapter:

· Competency 5: Earning Trust and Loyalty

From the South University Online Library, read the following articles:

· Respect and Trust 

· Leading with Integrity